Massive Tornado Hits Alabama; Storms Leave at Least 25 Dead

Thunderstorms and severe winds slammed the South Wednesday, killing a reported 25 people and creating an estimated mile-wide tornado that hit Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, Ala.

"I'm in my car at corner on McFarland. Milo's Hamburgers isn't there anymore," Tuscaloosa resident Phil Owen told ABC News station "33/40." "Hobby Lobby [is the] only thing still standing at Woods Square Shopping Center. Big Lots, Full Moon Barbecue -- piles of garbage where those places were."

Even after 25 confirmed deaths today, forecasters warned people to brace for even worse weather, according to The Associated Press.

"Today is the day you want to be careful," Greg Carbin of the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma told The Associated Press. The weather system is expected to move into Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky by the night and into the Carolinas by Thursday morning.

In Mississippi, Louisiana police officer Lt. Wade Sharp was killed during a camping trip in a state park when a tree limb fell on his tent. Three other men who have not been identified were also killed because of fallen trees.

In Arkansas, the Department of Emergency Management said today that one person had died in a storm in Sharp County. And in Tennessee, a woman was killed in her Chattanooga trailer.

A 3-year-old Mississippi girl died Tuesday after a tree fell on her house, authorities said, and 10 have been reported dead in Arkansas because of flooding and a tornado.

Louisiana authorities are investigating whether two deaths in that state are storm-related.

High-Risk Severe Weather Warning Issued

A high-risk severe weather warning by the National Weather Service continued for areas northeast of Memphis to Dallas and parts of Arkansas.

In Alabama, where 20 tornadoes have been reported, the governor declared a state of emergency. According to The Associated Press, emergency management officials said that two suspected tornadoes had touched down in Marshall County, about 70 miles from Birmingham. At the airport in Birmingham, a hangar was damaged by high winds.

Wendy Pesnell lost her home when a tornado hit.

"It's just kind of like. ... It makes you stop and think you know, 'Wow.' You know, we're here one minute and be gone the next," she told ABC News.

George Bearden said the tornado touched down so fast, that he and his family had no time to run for cover.

"Pieces of our house are scattered across two countries," Bearden told ABC News. "But we survived it."

There have been more than 600 reports of tornadoes nationwide for the month of April.

The latest storm pattern has brought in more than 45 reports of tornadoes in five states: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Kentucky.

Some areas of Texas were in the path of a tornado for the second day in the row. Golf ball-sized hail hit cars along Interstate 45 and damaged homes.

Forecasters predict more flooding for today with 3 to 7 inches of rain expected from Arkansas to Ohio, while areas such as Memphis, Tenn., and Louisville, Ky., could see heavy rain at times.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe toured the heavy tornado damage in Vilonia, where four died Monday.

"I'm amazed that we haven't had any more loss of life based upon the amount of damage that we're looking at," Beebe said.

The Mississippi, Ohio and Black Rivers are overflowing this morning after a deluge of as much as 15 inches of rain in five days.

In Arkansas, among the dead were at least six people who drowned after their cars were swept away in high water.

Near the swollen Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, emergency officials considered blowing a 2-mile-wide hole in a levee to ease the onslaught of water, but Missouri's attorney general has sued to stop it from happening, saying it would demolish crops and 100 homes.

Homes are still underwater this morning in Missouri after the Black River overflowed its levee in more than 30 different places Tuesday. Today, hail fell hard.

The levee breach to the south brought relief to residents in Poplar Bluff because all the flood water is pouring into rural farmland, where there are fewer people.

But it makes rescues that much more difficult for authorities.

In downtown Louisville, Ky., roads have disappeared, street lamps are submerged and more rain is coming.

A severe storm that swept through Allegan County, Mich., damaged a barn that houses thousands of turkeys.

Part of the barn landed half a mile away at a landscape company where Sue Dykstra works.

"I saw the barn door coming just like breaking off, coming right towards me, so I dodged into the office, dove in there," she said. "And I saw everybody else like huddling under stuff. And said, 'OK, this is a big deal.' Looked outside and that's when everything was going in circles."

Flooding also caused major problems in southern Indiana Tuesday, where, officials say, flooding could take weeks to ease.

In Pike County, sandbags are going up around a power plant and emergency management personnel are asking residents to conserve water, as the Patoka River rises.

"It floods every year. However, this is a little more than what we're used to," Pike County Sheriff Jeremy Britton said. "The levels are probably going tor each record levels."

ABC News' Steve Osunsami, ABC News Radio, Max Golembo, Alan Scaia, Ryan Owens and the Associated Press contributed to this report.